Refrigerator.



A. T. STROUT.

REFRIGERAIOR. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27, 19l5.

1,235,736. Patented Aug. 7, 1917-.

ADELE TEEEsA STROUT, or LITTLETON, mssa'ene s.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 27, 1915. I Serial l i 'o'. 17,525. :1:

To all whom it may ooncem. I

Be itknow'n that I, ADELE T. STROUT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Littleton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators, of which the following is-a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This lnvention refrigerators, and hasfor its object the provision, in combination with suitable support ing means within the refrigerator, of a tray provided with removable dishes adapted to receive the different materials desired to be preserved; and said tray, in the portions thereof surrounding and underlying the dishes, being preferably of open-work,-

convenlently wire 'me sh,enabling free passage of the cold air through the refrigerator and directly around the dishes referred to.

It is quite a universal practice in preserving what might be termed left overs to either insert the relatively large dishes originally containing the food in the refrigerator with the smaller particles to be saved;

. or to place said particles in other dishes laid indiscriminately upon the shelves of a refrigerator, rendering any particular dishat times relatively inaccessible without disturbing things in front of. the same and constantly presenting the liability of tipping or upsetting and breakage. Thus my idea may be said to overcome the necessity for using the variety of differently shaped and sized dishes, so often found in refrigerators,-fre quently expensive china-,and many times large dishes containing but little food and taking up useful space. I

The dishes which I contemplate using in 'my device, will, in cooperation with the tray in which they are removably seated,always occupy an expected place in the refrigerator,

so that food may be scraped into them instead of placing the china or other table dishes themselves into the refrigerator. The interfitting of the removable dishes with the trays will enable all of the dishes to be maintained in their appropriate place, and pre-. vent any of the dlshes slipping around, thus tending to the spilling of more or less food,

when a dish is being removed, and preventing chipping of the edges of dishes so often encountered in usual practice.

The details in the construction and arrelates to improvements in rangement of the preferred of the invention will be apparent from the speread in connectionwith the accompan l l drawings forming .part hereof and wherein the preferred embodiment of the invent onis illustrated. In'thedrawings: Figure is an. elevation of device in place in a refrigerator, the latter' "my ov ratellte 5 1 .cific descriptionhereinafter contained, when beingshown in a fragmentary manner,'three Referring more specifically tothe draws ings wherein'like reference letters designate corresponding parts in the several 'views, A represents the body portion of a refrigerator, having therein supporting ledges or their equivalents. Byeonveniently on the opposite side walls,and C representsmyv improved tray, adapted to be slidably insertedinto and removed from the refrigerator, over said .ledges or other'supports, B.. This tray is tively, subdividingthe tray into any numberof dish-supporting sections desired,-six beingshown in this case merely for the purpose of illustration.- Obviously any other number may be utilized to accord with the particular service condition desired.

The center portion of the wire mesh in each-section corresponds in contour to the bowl portion of the dishes to be used, and

is depressed, as at G, to constitute seats, the

bordering portions of the wire mesh adjoin- Y 'ing the 'edges of the seats sloping upwardly,

as at g. H represen ts the dishes, which are preferably in the nature of flat plates, in

, number. corresponding to thesections of the openwork tray, the central portions of the plates carrying bowls or containers h con- =veniently formed with and suspended from ing the introduction of the fingers Mtween the plates H and the wire tray in removing any given dish from the tray.

The dishes are preferably formed of white enamel intended as permanent parts of the refrigerator, and the plates or flange portions H thereof are of a width and length so that when-assembled, the spaces J will 'be left therebetween for engagement, of the plates by the fingers of the user, as previously observed, also" for the treejcirculation of air pastthe dishes.-

By the constrtiction just defined, it will be readily understood that Ihave provided a 16*refrigeratcr attachment presenting advantages over, the old method of storing small quantities of food. However, the underlying idea of the dish receiving tray may be 'carrie forward to. embrace much larger 20containers than those illustrated by Way of example herein. It will also be clearly appreciated that while providing the tray and container carried thereby, I am enabled by reason of the 'ope'nwork character of the tray 2% to hold the dishes practically in an entirely open space, suspended for the passage of the cold'air entirely around' and overall portions of the dishes or containers.

- While I have herein disclosed a special embodiment of the invention, it will be clear topersons skilled in the art that the same is capable .of embodiment in other forms and a m devices, as may be in keeping with the scope of the hereto appended claims. 85 Having thus described'the invention, what is claimedis:

1. The co biriatioh with a refrigerator, of: a su porting tray mountedtherein of openwor material having depressions theremaepee in to constitute seats, and dishes adapted tofit said seats, the dishes having top flanges, and the tray having sloping top portions adapted to' underlie-said flanges to leave spaces for the introduction of the finger in removing. the dishes.

2. In a devicefof the character. described, an openwork tray-having a depressed portion, in. combination with a dish having a bowl portion adapted to fit said depressed portion of the tray, the trayhaving slop to constitute dish seats, and "intermediate or marginal relatively shallow depressed portions to constitute finger spaces, in combination witha series of dishes formed'complementary to said seats and ada ted to be sup orted therein with their e ges above sai relatively shallow' recesses, substantially as and for the purpose described,

In testimony whereof Ihereunto afiix my signature inthe presence of two witnesses.

ADELE TERESA STROUT.

Witnesses: I

HEIJEN K.,Q1UINN, E. A. Snow. 

